AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jude asks, “We heard your friend call you Grace. Is it okay if we call you that?”
“Yeah, that’s fine.” I’m surprised by how sturdy my voice is.
“Okay, Grace,” Jude starts, “our Alpha is the one who …” he hesitates and glances out the rear windshield before looking straight ahead again. “Um.”
“Grabbed me?” I say to complete his sentence. My shoulders stiffen at the memory of their Alpha’s hands on me. His thumb rubbing soothing circles on my neck as he commanded me to calm Lizzie down. With how tight my throat is, I don’t know how I’m breathing.
There’s no time for niceties. I need information. That’s how we’ll survive. It’s how I’ll save both myself and Lizzie. The constant thump in my chest reminds me of that. I eye Lev who’s sitting back, taking up all of the room back here while watching me with an amused expression kicking up his lips.
“Yeah, grabbed you.” Jude swallows hard and glances over his shoulder to the car behind us again. Lizzie’s in that car. I know she is. She’s safe. I’m safe. I’ll figure out a way for us to be safe. I will. I’ll be damned if I let anything happen to either of us.
“Okay.” I drawl out the word in an effort to get him to continue. He clicks his tongue and meets my eyes in the rearview.
“He doesn’t want me to talk to you about this, Grace.”
“Why not?” I can’t help getting pissed. I need to know. “I deserve to know.”
“He wants to tell you himself.” I let that sink in for a second before realizing their Alpha must have been at the offering if he’s the one who grabbed me. Why take me and then ride in a different car in that case? A frown pulls at my lips and my hands fist in my lap. I don’t have time to wait.
“Why isn’t he riding with me if he took me?”
“Because of your friend, Lizzie,” he says and my heart stops at the mention of her name.
“You said she was all right,” I blurt out, cutting him off as I lean forward in my seat a bit to get closer to him. It’s foolish, I know it is, but I can’t help the note of anger that creeps into my tone at the end. I need to be calm; I know that much. Play along, get information. I can’t let my temper get the best of the situation.
“She’s fine. Don’t worry,” Lev reassures me, gently pushing me back against the seat. “Devin wants you to put your seatbelt on.”
I stare at him like he’s gone mad and snort. Is he fucking kidding? “Who the hell is Devin?” I don’t care that my voice is raised. Completely ignoring Lev now, my head whips back to Jude. With quickened breaths and a tight throat, I say, “And what was that you were starting to say about Lizzie?” So much for keeping my calm …
“Lizzie’s perfectly fine, but she was extremely upset and got a bit physical with us after you passed out.” I nod my head. That sounds just like her.
“But she’s okay?” There’s a threat hidden in my cadence. It’s unmistakable and judging by their expressions, they don’t miss it.
“She’s all right, but that’s why Devin, our Alpha, stayed with her and her … guards.” His eyes exchange a glance with Lev’s in the rearview again. “To calm them down.”
Guards? Calm them down? Rubbing my clammy palms against my thighs doesn’t help to keep my head from spinning. I feel like I’m going to snap. I’ve lost all sense of sanity.
“Let me help you with your seatbelt.” Lev tries to push me back against the seat, but I’m still worried about Lizzie and I don’t want to just blindly do what they say. Anxiousness wreaks havoc in my mind and I’m getting increasingly upset with how secretive they’re being. I push back against Lev’s muscular arms, although I may as well be pushing on a brick wall.
“I don’t want to wear it.” I’m aware I sound like a petulant child but I’m losing it, quickly spiraling downward. I need something to grip onto. I need Lizzie. He looks like he wants to say something, but he clamps his mouth shut. “How exactly did he ‘calm her down?’” I stare into Lev’s eyes, urging him to answer me.
Finally, he says, “He really wants you to wear your seatbelt.”
Motherfucker!
Staring down the beast of a man who, I do acknowledge is being kind at the very least, I bite back, “Well, Devin’s not here, is he? So he can shove what he wants up his ass.” Jude’s loud laugh startles me and Lev covers his mouth with the back of his hand as he fakes a cough in an effort to hide his growing smile.
“Let me tell you a secret about werewolves, Grace.” Jude pipes up from the front seat sounding very happy with himself. “As long as we’re within a few miles of each other and concentrate, we can hear what the others are thinking and saying.” I suck in a sharp breath and scrunch my nose. That’s not something I’ve ever heard or read before, but I guess he did say it was a secret.
The car slows down, and the brakes slightly screech as the blur of trees lessens. Goosebumps spread across my skin and prick their way up the back of my neck.
Jude pulls over to the side of the dirt road and stops. Thump, thump. The beating quickens in my chest. I look over my shoulder through the back window to see the car that’s been following ours pull up behind us. Fuck.
I bite the inside of my cheek and ask, “Does that mean he can hear me too?” This is good, I try to convince myself, giving myself a pep talk although my body is on fire with fear.
“Well no, he can’t hear you,” Jude starts as he puts the car in park and twists his body so he can look back at me. “But he can tell what we’re thinking about what you’re saying.” I start to panic at the realization that the Alpha knows I disrespected him. That’s probably like telling a mob don to fuck off.
Fuck. Fuckity fuck. My lungs still and I look everywhere around us to find no one moving yet. Maybe I should have just shut the hell up. My temper shouldn’t be getting the best of me. My head spins with fear and desperation, my gaze shooting to the handle on the car door.
